Mystery Solved?

Mary Ann Wateridge (1828 - 1886): Henry Puzey's First Wife

Ann Selina Earney (1841-1920): Henry Puzey's Second Wife

How could Henry Puzey leave his wife and children (8 living) behind when he emigrated to the United States?  Well, according to Henry in a court of law, it was the other way around - his wife left him.

The answer was shared in the account of a case put against him on the charge of polygamy.

In 1890, during an election, several hundred men were called up on charges that they were ineligible to vote.  The Deseret Weekly newspaper called this a "Liberal plot" and another action in the attempt to "rob the people" in the upcoming election by swelling the voter list with fraudulent registrations while at the same time trying to remove others  who would vote against them.

The men were accused by David Webb, who never appeared in the court to stand against the men and give them a chance to confront their accuser.  What these men did have to do was answer to the charges in a court of law in order to keep their names on the registration list.  The charges included questions of residency, naturalization or polygamous marriage.  Many of the men failed to appear (some because of difficulties finding the location of the hearing) and their names were duly stricken from the lists, making them ineligible to vote in the election. Henry Puzey did appear and his case was specifically reported in the press.

Here is the excerpt from the Deseret Weekly in February 1890 which refers to Henry Puzey.

__________________________

The next case that came up, however, takes the premium.  It was that of Henry Puzey, of the Twentieth Ward.

Mr. Puzey testified, in effect – I am not a polygamist (the ground of challenge); have never been a practical polygamist, though I have had two wives. My first left me, and afterward, in 1868, without getting a divorce.  I married again. In a few years the first wife died, and learning my status under the law, I made the second wife my legal wife by marrying again.  I have never been convicted of polygamy, and never lived with two wives; have never been amnestied.

Registrar Winters – I may as well decide this and al’other like cases right now.  Mr. Puzey is objected to on the ground that he is a polygamist. The law of 1862 says:

“That every person having a husband or wife living, who shall marry any other person, whether married or single, in a Territory of the United States, or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall *** be adjudged guilty of polygamy.*** Provided, nevertheless, that this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years without being known to such person within that time to be living; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved  by the decree of a competent court; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been annulled or pronounced void by the sentence or decree of a competent court on the ground of the nullity of the marriage contract.”

Mr. Puzey, you do not need to be convicted of polygamy. The law has adjudged you guilty. You are a polygamist, not having been pardoned or amnestied.  Section 6 of the law of 1882 says:

“That the President is hereby authorized to grant amnesty to such classes of offenders guilty of bigamy, polygamy or unlawful cohabitation before the passage of this act, on such conditions and under such limitations as he shall think proper; but no such amnesty shall have effect unless the conditions thereof shall be complied with.”

Mr. Puzey, you will not be allowed to vote.  Your name will be stricken from the list on the ground that you are a polygamist.  The challenge is sustained.  This ruling will govern all cases like this.

B.W. Driggs, Jr. (who appeared for the People before Registrar Winters) – Mr. Registrar, you have overruled Judge Zane!

The registrar only smiled.

Mr. Driggs – And the Supreme Court of the United States, too!

Another smile. That was all.

________________________________________________

The Deseret Weekly, February 9, 1890

Court case aside, if this is a true statement, Henry was no longer living with Mary Ann and the children when he left for the United States. Did she leave him because of his conversion to the gospel? Did she leave him when he started making plans to join other saints as they journeyed across the plains to settle in the Salt Lake Valley?

Questions still remain but this is another piece of information found.

Tragedy for the Puzeys

Joseph Henry Puzey (1828-1896)
(descendants line: Henry William / Frederick/ Frederick Elmer)

While Joseph Henry Puzey's life was full of amazing experiences(working on the miniature carriages for the royal children of Queen Victoria and crossing the plains with the Saints to settle in the Utah valley), he also experienced much sadness (leaving home at the age of 15, leaving his wife and almost all of his children behind in Southampton when they chose not to follow him in his faith and emigration, never seeing his family back in England again, outliving his one son (Henry William Puzey) who had joined him in Utah). But it was his family that experienced this at his tragic end.  Until recently all I knew about how he had passed was from a small paragraph in the history written by Ila Puzey Peterson hinted at something more.

"He suffered a severe stroke in 1894.  On May 7, 1896, he was found dead by W.C. Dunbar.  He was buried May 9, in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  Services were held in the twentieth ward meeting house."

So my assumption was that he had passed away at home, possibly due to a second stroke and that a neighbour or friend had discovered him as they came to visit. "Found dead" is the clue to his passing alone.  But I had no idea of the extent of what actually occurred until I was exploring some of the premium resources available by visiting a family history centre. 

One of the subscription sites which users of the centre can access is a newspaper database. I always like to try out a few of the less common names when I first visit a new resource and Puzey has often been a profitable one to try.  When you search in one of these databases, you generally will see a few words from the text to help you identify if you want to read more.  The words that first grabbed my attention were these.

"The unknown body found in the creek..."

I wondered if there had been a mystery in the neighbourhood, if a Puzey had been quoted talking about the incident. I never expected that the body was, in fact, my 3rd Great Grandfather.  

The text of the news report is copied here for you to know of the tragic end of our Pioneer father, Henry Puzey.  This is from the Salt Lake Tribune, Saturday May 9, 1896, page 5.
https://newspaperarchive.com/salt-lake-tribune-may-09-1896-p-13/
________________________________________________

PROVED TO BE HENRY PUZEY.

THE FORT DOUGLAS BODY IS IDENTIFIED

Supposed to Have Become Bewildered in His Effort to Reach Home - - An Old and Honored Citizen

The unknown body found in the creek back of the Fourt [sic] Douglas guard house on Thursday evening was identified yesterday morning as that of Henry Puzey of this city.

                Puzey lived with his wife and family at 236 D street. He has always been of a social nature, and since his retirement from business has been in the habit of frequently visiting his neighbors.  Thursday afternoon he made a call on an old friend, leaving him at 2 o’clock.  Thinking him still at the neighbor’s house, Puzey’s family were not alarmed until 6 o’clock when one of his sons went to bring him home, only to learn that his father had four hours before left the house. A search was at once begun, but beyond the fact that he had been seen walking rapidly, almost running in a southeasterly direction, nothing was learned.  The police also were notified, but they were unable to get trace of the lost man.  Late in the evening a man was reported as having been found drowned in the creek at the mouth of Red Butte canyon, near Fort Douglas.  This was believed to be Puzey, but afterward denied.   Yesterday Edwin Puzey went to Fort Douglas, and in the lifeless form lying on a cooling board in the dead house recognized his dead father.

                The body was removed to the city and taken to Joseph E. Taylor’s undertaking establishment, where it now is.  The funeral will be held tomorrow in the Twentieth ward meeting-house.

                Two years ago Mr. Puzey had a severe attack of paralysis from which he never fully recovered. Not only was his speech affected, but his mind was deranged.  Up to the time of that illness he was jovial and fun-loving, but since then he has not been himself.  His suffering made him morose and suspicious and inclined to live within himself.

                His family believe that after leaving the neighbor’s house, Puzey started out for a walk and became lost. Then in his bewilderment, hunting his home, he wandered out to the canyon back of the post and fell exhausted into the stream.  As he was in only ten inches of water when found, he must have been stunned by the fall, otherwise he could not have been drowned.

                Mr. Puzey was 67 years of age. He has lived in Salt Lake City since 1866, when he crossed the plains. He was a carriage builder, but has not worked at his trade for several years, not since the boom, when his shop in the rear of the Co-op Wagon and Machine company became too valuable for that use. His wife is quite ill, being prostrated by the shock of her husband’s sudden death.

                Mr. Puzey was a highly respected man. He is described by a friend as modest and unassuming, and one who never heralded the good he did to the world. During Bishop Sharp’s lifetime he was one of his counselors.  He was very charitable and generous, being willing to extend credit time after time. An instance of this occurred yesterday morning, when a woman called to pay a debt of $75 contracted in 1875.  Her husband, who is out of town, had sent her the money, and until she reached the house she did not know her husband’s debtor was dead. 

______________________________________________

I was glad to learn more about Henry's character. He has been a struggle for me knowing he left a wife and children behind in England. I've wondered what kind of man he was. It is difficult to understand knowing that his wife eventually ended up in a poor house in Southampton. But this is not the man that I imagined as he is described here and I'm happy to learn more of this respected man who tried to do good and help others.  

The 20th Ward Meetinghouse in Salt Lake

Interior of the 20th Ward Meetinghouse

When I was in Salt Lake City this past summer, I did some driving around in the Historic Avenues, looking for Henry's home and hadn't realized I would also find the chapel just a short distance away. I was lucky enough to get permission to enter and tour the building. It is worth a visit. Maybe next time I can attend Sunday services there. 

I also visited Henry's grave in the Salt Lake City cemetery. Most of the other graves I have visited of my ancestors in Utah have been large impressive stones. But Henry's grave marker is simple and those of his second family (wife and children) that line up beside him are equally unremarkable and even difficult to read as they have sunk into the ground and are partially grown over. 

 I hope to continue to learn about this family as I research and connect with others interested in the Puzey line.

Puzey Ancestral Home

The Puzey Ancestral Home as it looks today on Google Maps Streetview

My next England trip MUST include a drive along the A32 to East Tisted. There, on the corner that takes you to Rotherfield Park, you can see the ancestral home of the Puzey family.

No - not the Pusey Estate in Oxfordshire which was up for sale in 2010 for 27 million pounds. There is no established connection in the family to that property. 

This is where William (1786-1849) and Jane (1802-1855) Puzey raised their family including a young Joseph Henry Puzey before he left home and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1866 and crossed the plains to settle in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Henry's brother, William Jr. lived in the home next but the rest of the history of this home is still left to be uncovered.

screenshot from Google Streetview

If you want to explore the neighbourhood, open up Google maps and type in East Tisted.  You want to place the little man (who stands above the zoom feature) on the intersection I described and is shown below with the blue arrow.

To see what the home looked like back in the days when the Puzey's occupied it, you can view this in Findery  - just click here.!

It hasn't changed much. Mostly changes to the shrubbery (Ni!) and the addition of the classic red phone box.

screenshot from Google Streetview

Here's some more information about the village.

Excerpt from the History, gazetteer, and directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight By William White as found in Google Books.

 


In this, we can see in the residents' list that William Puzey was a farm bailiff (*definition at the bottom of the post)  to George Arthur Jervoise Scott, Esq. - the lord of the manor of and owner of nearly all the parish which includes his seat called Rotherfield Park.

For all you Austen and Downton Abbey fans, just the name Rotherfield Park conjures up quite an image! You may imagine it was like Netherfield Park where Mr. Bingley took up residence or Rosings Park with the Rt Hon. Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  While these were imaginary addresses which Jane created, she no doubt was influenced by the grand homes of her youth. Jane, in fact, lived not far from this Rotherfield Park (just 4.2 miles) at one point  and her brother Edward inherited a grand estate called Godmersham Park in which William Puzey (Jr.)'s wife, Charlotte Gillman, had worked in as a laundry maid!

Rotherfield Park by HerryLawford (shared on Flickr)

Godmersham Park by angelaakehurst (shared on Flickr)

George Scott was the grandson of Thomas Scott the man who secured the family fortune as a brickmaker  (not a royal), and it was George's father who had purchased the property in 1808 from the Marquess of Winchester. Rotherfield Park was comprised at William Puzey's time of 2,648 acres with a rental income of 2,400 pounds which the farm bailiff would oversee.  The chief crops for the property were wheat, oats and barley.  As a man in Scott's employ, William Puzey would have had access to the reading room which had been established for the working men.

The Puzey home was directly across the lane from the Gatehouse for Rotherfield Park to the west and across from St. James church to the north (I couldn't find a picture of this church that copyright would allow me to post but follow this link to see what it looked like.)

screenshot from Google Streetview

So with just one and a half hours drive from London, I have my next excursion mapped out. I'm not sure when that will be though. I'll have to be content with touring the area via the net for now.

*Definition of a Farm Bailiff:  n. An overseer appointed by the possessor or proprietor of a farm to direct and superintend the farming operations.